19 August 2022

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

August

September

From the Principal

As Tasmania is an island state surrounded by coastline, as well as inland waters and other aquatic environments, swimming and water safety are necessary life skills that add to our health, fitness, and wellbeing. Activities such as fishing, boating, water play, swimming, surfing, and diving require swimming and water safety skills. Planning is well underway regarding the grade 3-5 swimming program, with details being sent home to families in these grades. If you have not returned the forms for the swimming program, can you please do so as soon as possible. Students will be starting the program next Monday, 22nd August.

The 2022 School Satisfaction Surveys are coming!

Every year the Department of Education conducts School Satisfaction Surveys to find out what your child(ren)'s school does well and where it may improve.

We would be grateful if you completed our online survey about Hillcrest Primary School. Your feedback is very important to help us inform our school planning and decision-making.

The survey is open from Monday 29 August 2022 until Friday 23 September 2022 and should take about 5 minutes to complete.

Take the online survey by clicking this link or pasting it in your browser:

The survey is carried out on a secure website and all responses are anonymous and confidential.

All families in this school received the same survey link and no identifying information is collected. A summary of the survey results will be provided to schools. Responses from individuals or small groups will NOT be disclosed to any Department of Education staff.

Please contact the school if you require any assistance.

Thank you for taking the time to fill in this survey.

Dress Code for Hillcrest Primary School

It is timely to remind students and families that we have a Dress Code that sets out what students can and can’t wear to school. I have copied the relevant part of our school Dress Code. Our full Hillcrest Primary School Dress Code and Uniform Policy is available on request.

The following requirements are part of our Dress Code:

• Students can wear stud or sleeper earrings only. Excessive jewellery is not permitted.
• No facial piercings are allowed.
• Hair colouring of natural shades only, are permissible. Appropriate hair accessories are also permissible.
• No make-up or nail polish is allowed.
• Footwear must be appropriate - having a closed toe and be flat soled.
• Non-uniform items worn under the uniform must be neat and meet the requirements of this policy.
• Hillcrest Primary School requires students in kindergarten to wear school uniform as detailed in this policy.

Useful COVID-19 information for families

If you’re looking for practical advice and information about COVID-19 in Tasmania, Public Health has released their COVID-19 winter update.

A copy has been attached to this newsletter.

For more information about COVID-19, please visit the Tasmanian Government Coronavirus website or contact the Tasmanian Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738, or Department of Education COVID-19 Support Hotline at COVID19support@education.tas.gov.au or on 1800 816 057.

If you need support translating or interpreting this information, contact the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450.

Jerome Pape - Principal

School Association Committee Survey

At our recent School Association Committee meeting, we discussed ways of enhancing our communication and consultation. As an Association, we want to make sure we continue to understand the needs and views of the school community and reflect these in the work we are doing. In particular, we want to know if there are any gaps in the support we are providing at the school for current students and families. We also would like to know if our ways of communication are working for you and ask for any suggestions on how we could make it better.

To help us do this, the School Association Committee have created a short survey for families to complete which should only take 5 minutes.

Hilly Kids Are Friendly Kids

Our current Hilly Kids focus topic is Use Your Voice. Our next focus topic for term 3 will be Good Winners Good Losers.

Good Winners Good Losers

Winning is great fun, but we should remember that we need to win in a way that keeps our friends and promotes others’ respect for us. Celebrate our successes but do it in a way that does not offend or hurt others.

At all times play fairly. Give others a go and stick to the spirit of the rules. In the end the game should be fun for all, win, lose or draw.

Do

• Keep smiles and celebrations low-key.
• Comment on good players but do not overdo it.
• Always try hard even if you are losing.
• Thank others for the game.
• Encourage your team members and give everyone a go.
• Respect your opposition and all their hard work.

Don’t

• Boast about your ability or victory.
• Comment on how far behind the others are.
• Point out where the others are going wrong.
• Act happy about others’ mistakes, e.g., don’t clap or laugh at poor shots.
• Cheat or manipulate others.

Our Hilly Kid for the topic ‘responsibility’ was Peter in P/1L and our Aussie of the Month for July was Jake in P/1P. Congratulations, Peter, and Jake!

Well done to our other class representatives:

Grade 6 Transition to High School

Last Tuesday 9th August, Reece High School prefects Joshua & Elliot visited Hillcrest Primary School, along with Mr Murray & Ms Reeves for a meet and greet with our Grade 6 students. They provided a delicious morning tea and opportunity for our students to ask questions about transitioning to High School. Students received 2 letters, one outlining future orientation activities and one specifically about the Grade 6 Challenge Day. The Grade 6 Challenge Day will be held at the Devonport Recreation Centre on Wednesday 31 August and students are asked to return their permission slips asap to the office.

Ann-Maree Mulcaster

2022 CBCA Book Week 20-26 August

The theme of this year’s Children’s Book Council of Australia is Dreaming with Eyes Open. We hope you are taking part in our Reading Challenge and looking forward to participating in the Dress Up Parade.

Reading Challenge

Our Reading Challenge started last week, and it is great to see so many students participating in the challenge.

Book Week Parade

Our parade will take place on Tuesday 23rd August. Get creative designing your costumes.

Naomi Archer – AST

Student Wellbeing & Engagement Survey

Attention: Families of students in Year 4, 5 and 6

The wellbeing of our students is important to us - we want to hear how students feel, and think, about different things going on in their lives.

Those in Years 4, 5 and 6 at Hillcrest Primary School will be taking part in the Student Wellbeing and Engagement Survey. The results from this survey will help us get a picture of the current wellbeing of our students, and what we can do to improve future wellbeing for learning. The more students who take part, the clearer our picture will be.

The Student Wellbeing and Engagement Survey is part of the Department of Education’s Child and Student Wellbeing Strategy .

The details for the survey are:

When: Monday the 5th, September
Who: Years 4, 5 and 6 students
What do I need to do: You and your child don’t need to do anything.

The survey will be done in class time and will not require your child to prepare in any way.

A letter with more information has been sent home with all Year 4, 5 and 6 students, including Frequently Asked Questions and a form to sign and return to the school if you do not want your child to participate in the survey.

If you would like further information, please contact Michelle Burke on (03) 6424 5211

Thank you for supporting us to ensure that all our learners are safe, feel supported and flourish, and can engage in learning.

Michelle Burke - AST

5/6 Sports Expo

Mrs Ackerely - It was an absolute pleasure taking our 5/6 Students to the Grade 5/6 Sports expo on Wednesday, 10 August. It was so great to see each student encouraging others to participate and just have fun. We certainly saw examples of our school values throughout the day, and we were extremely proud of the effort’s students put in. A big thank you goes to Mr forward and Mrs Roell for all the organisation that went into the day to make sure it was such a big success.

Jazmyne - On Wednesday I played soccer at the Grade 5/6 Sports Expo. I had a blast, and it was all about having fun and learning new sports. I learnt how to play soccer. I hope everyone who participated had fun.

Tahj - Congratulations to our 5/6s for a wonderful day on Wednesday. Our hockey players did a great job of overcoming a problem of only having two players, we solved the problem by getting help from other schools (DCS, Spreyton, Forth). We were also very successful with four wins out of six games.

Inika - On Wednesday, the 5/6s has their annual Sports Expo Day where students got to go to a sport of their choice. This year the choices were netball, cricket, hockey, soccer and basketball. This year I chose netball. I really enjoyed being able to go learn how to play a new sport with my friends and going to have some fun. As much as it was definitely not about winning, we did end up winning 2 out of 4 games which was pretty cool considering the first two games a lot of the group didn’t even want to touch the ball, so I thought winning 2 games was pretty impressive.

Ella - For the sports day on Wednesday the 10th there were so many sports offered but at netball we tried our best and for some people it was there first time playing that the sport. Some of our team members were nervous but we had Mrs Chettle and Mrs French supporting us and they kept cheering us on for every game.

Shataya - Basketball was fantastic with our teamwork in each game by the way we were sharing the ball around to each of our teammates and not getting too competitive even though we didn’t win every game.

Brody - Basketball went really well on Wednesday at the Sports Expo. We were trying hard and doing well at passing the ball around and we played good against the other teams. We won a few games and lost a few games; it was a lot of fun.

5/6K - Tassie is the Place for Me

5/6 Kelly have proudly been part of promoting a new book. A book of nursery rhymes with a distinctly Tasmanian theme called ‘Tassie Rhymes for Little Tigers’ by Narelda Joy. The book is an initiative of the ‘Help Babies Learn’ project and aims to produce a picture book that will encourage parents of newborn babies to read aloud to the child from day one by introducing sound, language, expression, colours and letters and investing in their future. It is hoped that through this effort, a culture of reading aloud will be developed; a culture that will benefit the future of our children, and our communities. The book will be distributed free of charge to families of newborn babies.

Our role was to make a creative piece to support the original rhyme ‘Tassie is the Place For Me’ and to read the rhyme aloud. To do this each student was assigned one of the animals in the rhyme; they created a piece of vibrant art about their animal, and we filmed them saying their line from the rhyme, which we then created into a movie. They are also learning more about their animal in class time.

Here is the link to view our reading on YouTube

Other people were also involved in reading the rhymes aloud, check them all out on You Tube. Just search for Tassie Rhymes for Little Tigers.

Hands on Learning Market

On the Monday, 22 August, Hands on Learning will holding our next Monday market. We will have lots of plants, produce and craft items for sale. We will also have Father’s Day themed projects and a Father’s Day raffle. Come and join us near the library from 2:30 to 3:15pm.

What have P/1 Parker been doing?

Prep/1 Parker learned about the Commonwealth Games. Each day we reviewed how many medals Australia had won, and we used this information to support our learning about data collection.

Students were excited to learn:

• Where the Commonwealth games were held
• What events take place?
• How many days it goes for?
• Not all countries can participate in the Commonwealth Games, only the ones the Queen is ‘in-charge’ of
• Australia won the medal tally
• The meaning of winning a gold, silver, or bronze medal

Commonwealth Games 2022 – Hilly Kids Style!

Prep/1 Parker and Prep/1 Lawes conducted their own mini–Commonwealth Games.

Students participated in several events that were similar to the events conducted at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

These included, running races, bean bag toss, hurdles, tennis, and rhythmic gymnastics. Students participated in heats for these events before competing in ‘finals’ for each event. After the closing ceremony, students were presented with their gold, silver, or bronze medal. Students had a terrific time and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to learn about the importance of the Commonwealth Games.

Fathers’ Day Stall

The Fathers’ Day Stall will be held on Tuesday, 30 August. The purpose of the stall is to give each child an opportunity to buy a small gift for Fathers’ Day. It is also a School Association fundraising event.

Parents are asked to buy or make a small gift to the value of $3 and send it to school by Monday, 29 August. Please do not wrap gifts. Your child will put the present in a box in the classroom and tick their name on the list on the box. Every child who donates to the stall will go into a draw to win a gift.

On the day of the stall please send your child to school with $3 to purchase a Father’s Day gift. If you do not want your child to participate, please tell him/her beforehand.

Donations of wrapping paper are also needed. Offers of assistance to help run the stall on the day from 9-10:30am would be most welcome. Please leave your name at the school office if you can help on the day.

Fundraising Committee

Raffle

Remember to sell your raffle tickets and return the books with the money to the school office by Friday, 26 August.

The raffle will be drawn on Wednesday, 30 August. Good luck everyone!

Tuckerbox Tips

When children eat well, they behave better, are able to listen well and concentrate for longer.

Packing a healthy school lunch box will help children to learn, play and be happy at school.

Steps to planning a healthy lunchbox:

• Make time to prepare. Have fresh fruit and vegetables, milk, yoghurt, bread & crackers all bought in advance.
• Shop wisely and save money. Buy fresh fruit and vegetables in season to ensure good quality and value for money.
• Make your own snacks, e.g., snack packs from fresh ingredients which you can buy in bulk.
• Choose a variety of foods from the five food groups.
• Include a bottle of water. No need for sweetened drinks such as juice, cordial or soft drinks as these contain too much sugar which is not good for teeth.
• Keep food cool. In warmer weather place a small ice pack in the lunch box.

Lyn Aherne – Canteen Supervisor

Move Well Eat Well

Did you know:

• The original carrots were purple and yellow not orange.
• Lemons contain mor sugar than strawberries.
• Pineapple plants can take two to three years to produce fruit.
• Cucumbers are 95% water.
• Lemon’s float but limes sink

• Watermelons and bananas are berries, but strawberries are not.

MWEW Team